Egg nest



S. PETERSON A ril 3, 1962 EGG NEST N l R m a m E i. M w M o w w P m 2 m Original Filed March 1, 1960 S. PETERSON April 3, 1962 EGG NEST 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed March 1, 1960 INVEYIIVTOR.

ATTORNEYS Szvuoun PETERSON United States Patent Ofifice 3,027,871 Patented Apr. 3, 1962 3,027,371 EGG NEST Seymour ieterson, Dassel, Minn, assignor to Storm Industries, Inc Dassel, Minn, a corporation of Minne-- This application is a continuation of my pending application entitled Egg Nest, filed March 1, 1960, under Serial No. 12,085 and allowed July 20, 1961.

My invention relates to hens nests and has for its primary object the provision of a hens nest which provides an egg-laying surface which is maintained clean and sanitary to a degree never heretofore approached.

One common and well recognized cause of dirty eggs resides in the fact that the hens are inclined to roost in their nests during non-egg-laying periods and during such roosting periods droppings are inevitably precipitated upon the egg-laying surface.

The primary object of my invention is provision of a novel means for forcefully removing the hens from their nests at a predetermined time and preventing re-entry into said nests of any hens during the non-egg-laying periods, whereby to positively assure that no droppings are precipitated onto the egg-laying surface of said nest during such period.

A further object of my invention is provision of a nest of the type described, comprising a rear wall element, opposed side wall elements and a bottom wall element which cooperate to define a chamber having a normally open front and in which one of the said wall elements is mounted for movements between an operative barrierforming position adjacent the open front portion of the nest to an inoperative wall forming position rearwardly spaced from said inoperative position.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a device of the class immediately above described, in which said rear wall element is mounted for movements toward and from said barrier-forming and wall-forming positions.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a device of the class immediately above described, in which power operated means is provided for imparting movements to said rear wall element between said barrier and wall-forming positions.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a device of the class described above, which is relatively inexpensive to construct and is rugged and durable.

A further object of my invention is provision of a device of the class described which is positive in its action and which may be automatically controlled.

The above and still further objects of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed specification, appended claims and attached drawings.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hens nest inconporating my invention, as seen from the front, some parts being broken away and some parts shown in section;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view as seen from the rear;

FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in side elevation, as seen substantially from line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in top plan, as seen from line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

Referring with greater particularity to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates in its entirety a. conventional hens nest of the multiple type and including a reticulate bottom wall element 2, a top wall element .3, opposed side wall elements 5. Wall elements 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5' cooperate to define a chamber '6 having a normally open front 7 across which is draped a conventional vertically split curtain 8 which permits entrance and exit of laying hens into the chamber 6, when the barrier mechanism, hereinafter to be described, is not inoperative position.

Preferably and as shown, the bottom wall element 2 slants forwardly and outwardly through the open front 7, where it communicates with a generally horizontally disposed eg -collecting member which may take any desired form but, as shown, is in the nature of a shelf 9.

Rear wall element 5, as shown particularly in FIG. 3, is pivotally secured adjacent its upper end intermediate the end wall elements 4 on a horizontal axis as indicated at 10, for swinging movements of the lower end thereof from the full line rear wall-forming position of FIG. 3 to the dotted line barrier-forming position thereof. It will be noted that in its movement from the full to the dotted line barrier-forming position the rear wall element 5 sweeps substantially the entire depth of chamber 6 so as to forcefully eject any hen on the nest through the slit curtain 8 across the normally open front portion 7. On the other hand, as long as the rear wall element 5 is in said dotted line barrier-forming position, the laying hens are precluded from entering the compartment 6 so as to deposit droppings on the reticulate bottom wall element 2.

Extending between the rear edge portions of the bottom wall element 2 and the top wall element 3, central-1y of the side wall elements 4, is a vertically disposed mounting post 11. The numeral 12 indicates in its entirety a fluid pressure operated piston-cylinder, the projecting plunger of which is identified by the numeral 13. The plunger 13 is shown as being pivotally secured as at 14 to the angular edge 15 of the rear wall element 5. The upper end portion of the piston-cylinder 12 is pivotally secured to the mounting post 11, through the medium of a suitablbe bracket 16, on an axis parallel to the pivot axis 14, as indicated at 17. Fluid under pressure is introduced into the cylinder 12, for the purpose of extending the plunger 13 so as to move the rear wall element 5 from its full line rear wall-forming position to the dotted line barrier-forming position of FIG. 3, through an inlet tube 18 in the head 19 of the cylinder 12.

A coil tension spring 20 is connected at one end to the intermediate portion of the rear wall element 5, as indicated at 21, and is connected at its opposite end to the upper portion of the fixed rear wall element 5' as indicated at 22. In this manner, the rear wall element 5 is yieldingly biased toward its full line position of FIG. 3 when the pressure within the cylinder 12 is cut off, the air within the cylinder 12 being slowly released therefrom through an outlet pipe 23 which, preferably and as shown, is provided at its free end with any suitable release valve 24.

Automatic control means for introducing fluid under pressure into the cylinder 12 to cause the wall element 5 to assume the dotted line barrier-forming position of FIG. 3, and of cutting off such pressure whereby to permit the spring 20 to cause the wall element 5 to assume the full line position of FIG. 3, may obviously be provided.

Preferably and as shown, the extreme lower edge of the rear wall-forming element 5 is provided with a flexible resilient skirt 25 which engages and sweeps the upper surface 26 of the reticulate bottom wall element 2 during movements toward and from the dotted line barrier-forming position of FIG. 3.

My invention has been thoroughly tested and found to be completely satisfactory for the accomplishment of the above objects; and while I have shown a preferred embodiment, I wish it to be understood that my invention is capable of modification without departure from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A hen nest comprising top and bottom wall elements, opposed side wall elements and a movable rear wall element cooperating to define a chamber having a normally open front, said rear wall element defining a sweep, means pivotally mounting said sweep-forming wall element adjacent its upper end on the side walls for movements between an operative barrier-forming position adjacent the open front portion of said nest and an inoperative wall-forming position rearwardly spaced from said operative position, and a power operated mechanism connected to said nest and to said sweep wall element for imparting said movements to said sweep-forming wall element toward said operative position to force an occupant outwardly through said open front and return means on the nest to provide a barrier against reentry of a fowl into the nest and for subsequently moving said wall element to its inoperative wall-forming position.

2. A hen nest comprising a bottom wall element, a movable sweep-forming rear wall element and opposed side wall elements cooperating to define a chamber having a normally open front, means pivotally mounting said sweep-forming rear wall element adjacent its upper end on said side walls for movements between said wallforming position and a barrier-forming. position adjacent said open front, and power operated mechanism connected to said nest and to said sweep-forming wall for imparting movements to said rear wall element toward said barrier-forming position, to force an occupant outwardly through said open front and to provide a barrier against re-entry by a fowl into the nest and return means on the nest for subsequently moving said rear wall element to its said wall-forming position.

3. A hen nest comprising top, two side and back wall portions and a bottom providing therebetween a hen receiving chamber, the front of said nest being open to said chamber, one of said Wall portions being relatively movable at least in part through said chamber to a barrier-forming position adjacent said open front, and power operated means connected to said one movable wall portion to move it relative to a fixed portion of said nest for causing said movement of said movable wall portion to forceably eject a hen from said chamber.

4. The structure as defined in claim 2 in which the power operated means is a fluid operated mechanism, one end of which is connected to the nest and the other end of which is pivoted to the sweep-forming element.

5. The structure as defined in claim 4 in which the return means for subsequently moving said sweep-forming element comprises yielding means biasing said sweepforming element toward said inoperative wall-forming position.

6. The structure defined in claim 5 in which said fluid operated mechanism comprises an extensible and retractable device, means pivotally connecting one end of said device to said rear wall element below the pivotal connection thereof to said side wall elements, and means establishing a pivotal connection of the opposite end of said device to supporting structure rearwardly of said rear wall element.

7. The structure defined in claim 2 in which the lower end portion of said rear wall element is provided with a flexible resilient skirt which frictionally engages and sweeps the upper surface of said bottom wall element during movements of said rear wall element toward and from said barrier-forming position.

No references cited. 

